Fluid galleries are utilized in a variety of applications for directing fluid to components via a central chamber. Fluid galleries are typically defined by a hollow cylindrical housing, for example a hollow shaft, including multiple ports. Fluid diverters can be inserted into the housing to divide the internal fluid chamber of the housing into multiple chambers and define passages to specific ports of the housing. One specification application is for use in connection with rocker arm shafts in internal combustion engines, where multiple internal fluid passages can be used to supply pressurized hydraulic fluid to hydraulic lash adjusters as well as actuators in rocker arms used to deactivate the cam lift to certain valves during cylinder deactivation.
One type of fluid diverter requires an interference fit between the fluid diverter and the housing to secure the fluid diverter in place. An interference fit between the fluid diverter and the housing is undesirable due to the debris caused by the interference fit, which results in contamination of the fluid in the fluid gallery, which is particularly concerning in rocker arm shaft applications. Other retention features can be used to secure the fluid diverter in the housing, including radial grooves on either the housing or the fluid diverter. However, these additional retention features increase the costs of the housing or fluid diverter.
It would be desirable to provide an improved fluid diverter that does not require expensive retention features or a retention configuration that causes debris.